School year 2020-2021



It's been a hot minute since I posted here. But the last time I posted was almost the last time things were normal. That's okay, life goes on. 

We are currently in the second week of Winter Break. One week from today I'll be back in the classroom (hopefully) and I've just started to consider what that will look like and how I want to handle things. Last semester was a hot mess. We started virtually and did not go into the classroom until October, after fall break. Then we were in for about 5 weeks and we went out for 3 weeks - this was also when I got Covid-19 and was sick as a dog for 2 weeks. With 2 weeks left in the semester, we returned to the classroom only to go out for the last 2 days of the semester. It was a crazy semester. I had students who came in person when they could and some who stayed online the whole time. I had to have lessons for both so it was like doing double duty. It wasn't my finest semester of teaching but we got through it and that is all that really matters. 

For the upcoming semester, the students who choose to remain online no matter what will be doing their classes on an online school website. Yay!!! I don't have to create in person and online lessons. You have no idea what a load that take off me. But, because I'm teaching dual enrollment, I will have more in person students as they need to have me as a teacher to get the college credit. So there's that. I will have more students in the classroom than I did last semester. 

Towards that end, I want to restart the year when we return next week. With the in and out that we went through, my classes were generally a mess. I want to kind of start over and reset the class and the expectations and all that stuff. So I'm thinking of using the first day much as I would the first day of the year. I want to rewrite my syllabus a little, I want to review how the class will work, and I want to set the expectations for this semester. The primary reason is that all of my dual enrollment kids will be in person and many of them have not been in my class due to being online all last semester. Also, I'm optimistically hopeful that we will spend more time in person than not and I want the class to run smoothly. So the point of this post today is to work out exactly what I want to relay to them and how I want to present it next Monday. 

Things I want to change: 

  • Seating charts - I didn't have them last semester because some classes literally had 4 people, but this semester they will be a thing. 
  • Late work - the grades on these will be reduced at 10% per day until they hit 50%. 
  • Absences - if we are in-person and they are absent, they will need to check the GC as everything will be there as usual. If the work is not completed on GC, they will lose citizenship points for that day. 
  • All work will still be posted on the GC, I may even continue to use it to turn in work so that they are in the habit of using it and checking it regularly. 
  • Missing work - the absolute last, drop dead day to turn in any missing work this semester will be May 4th, 2021. Nothing, and I mean nothing will be accepted after that. 
  • If we go virtual - I will still be holding classes and they will be required to attend. If they fail to attend, they will be marked absent for the day and they will lose citizenship points. No excuses will be accepted. 
  • Citizenship points are based on your presence in class, either in-person or asynchronous, and your completing the work. Miss a class, lose points. Don't turn in work, lose points. Citizenship points cannot be made up. They are based on what you do that week and since we have yet to prefect time travel, what you get is what you get. 
  • Notebooks - you will be required to take notes in class. I will randomly hold notebook checks that will mostly be unannounced. 
That's all I can think of currently. I'm going to let this percolate in my brain and see if I come up with anything else. For now, it is time to shower and start the day. 

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